Extinction rivals climate change

Species loss ranking surprises researchers

A new study was just released in the journal Nature shows that the extinction of animal and plant species may cause as much damage to ecosystems as other major environmental stresses like climate change, nutrient pollution from phosphorus, and drought. Carol Adair from UVM was part of an international team that worked to summarize close to 200 studies on biodiversity. Adair and her team were surprised that the results showed that loss of species may rank as one of the top 5 drivers of environmental change.